unconditional love

The past New Moon cycle of Conscious Communication being integrated through our emotional heart is coming to an end. On August 14th, 2015 the New Moon will begin a new cycle in Sidereal Cancer.

This cycle connects us with the themes of Cancer, showing the place were we learn the lessons of Love, Nurturing and Peace. The evolution begins with conditional love where the love we feel and offer to others is based upon whether we feel they have earned it or are worth of it. Have they behaved how we wish? Have they done for us what we desire? Do they have and act in ways we deem lovable and good?

From here, through spiritual practice and the experiences of the soul, there is evolution towards Unconditional Love, where Love is finally understood to be an experience of pure receptivity, pure openness. Love is no longer an action but rather a state of being. Like the highest ideal of a Mother that will love her children no matter what.

Cancer, which is ruled by the Moon, invites us into a process of discovering our feelings and emotions and to evolve towards this state of Unconditional Love, but as part of the process we must overcome our fears of vulnerability. As we are placing conditions on the love we offer others, we are unconsciously afraid that others will be conditional in their acceptance of us as well. In that state of evolution, we feel we must protect our hearts because the Moon and Heart seeks connection to others through this emotional realm, and rejection is painful. But the more we learn to embrace ourselves, life and others without condition, the more our own Love evolves and the illusion of separation begins to dissolve. What remains is the reflection of our True Nature and the Unconditional Love that dwells within the Heart of the True Self.

A large part of the Spiritual Path is nurturing the qualities of our True Self and integrating them into our deeper sense of Self. Unconditional Love is one of these profound qualities.

With the Moon joining the Sun in Cancer as we begin this New Moon cycle, these themes will come to the forefront of the collective experience. A cycle of exploring the state of our capacity to Love and to be authentically vulnerable. And through that opening, to find Peace. When unconditional love awakens within us, the connection we all long for is found within our own Self and is experienced as a reflection within the outer world through others and the beauty of Life itself.

As part of the current cycle, Retrograde Venus and debilitated Mars are joined the Sun and Moon in Cancer. Retrograde Venus started on July 25th and continues the collective experience of reflecting on our experience of Relationship and our capacities to find happiness. As it backs up into Cancer, it is bringing that theme of the internal exploration of our relationships back into connection with our capacity to love. How does the evolution of your capacity to love impact your relationships? How truly unconditional can you be in connection to other? And what level of love brings the greatest connection, peace and happiness?

Because of the energy of the Venus retrograde, I have had a surge in Vedic Astrology Consultations that are focused on Relationship. It is “in the air” as some would say. I have also seen many posts from Facebook friends talking about reconnecting with old friends or past lovers, as the retrograde status of Venus can literally bring about a “revisiting” of relationships from the past. And these themes will continue until September 6th.

Mars is also in Cancer as this time, which will bring a hesitancy to our actions, creating a sense of frustration. Mars’ natural strength and capacity to act is challenged in Cancer, because the emotionally vulnerable waters can create confusion around the actions that need to be taken. Here, Mars feels uncomfortable and may react through agitation or even anger in an attempt to defend the vulnerability that it feels.

And so as the New Moon begins, it brings together the energies of our Capacity to Feel and Connect (Moon), our sense of Self and our Power (Sun), our Strength and Actions (Mars) and our Happiness and Desires (Venus). And with Venus retrograde, the themes of relationship, happiness and the fulfillment of desire are a strong component to this cycle.

The Sun, Moon and Venus are also in Ashlesha Nakshatra which is associated with the need to develop awareness of our Subconscious motivations within our emotional nature. How do we use our emotional nature? Do we use cunning, deceptive practices to trick others into doing what we want, potentially in the name of love? Are others pawns in our own exploration of happiness, or do we honor their happiness and their individual experiences as well? Are we willing to explore our deeper subconscious motivations and transform them so that we may live with integrity, honesty and clarity of emotional self awareness?

So what do we do when our emotions, power, actions and desires are being put into the place of emotional vulnerability, faced with exploring Love and Desire and Happiness? What happens when we reflect on relationship and desire and how we connect to others through our current evolutionary experience of love? And what happens when the invitation to open to greater and deeper experiences of peace and love are presented?

At various points in our growth, we all must walk through the experiences of feeling vulnerable. And when this happens there are two common reactions to end the discomfort.

One reaction is to protect the heart. To cover our feelings, sometimes even from our own selves. This strategy causes us, in the end, to simply feel less. And in the Tantric way of understanding, feeling less of anything requires that we feel less in general. If we wish to feel less of our vulnerability, our fear, our insecurity, then we are also unintentionally stifling our capacity to feel joy, love and freedom. The attempt to avoid pain and only let in what we think of as happiness backfires, as we end up feeling less of everything in the end. Joy feels less joyful because feeling is reduced.

Another reaction is to cling to others. When we are afraid that the connection, the love and the acceptance is going to be taken away, and that we can’t do it alone and need that Other to support us, love us and help us find peace, then we might find ourselves clinging. We might become emotionally needy and not want to let the other be in their own individual experience. Our own individual emotional strength is not strong enough, so we rely on another to prop us up.

These to reactions are common, but they don’t solve to deeper invitation to find love and authentic peace. As we are driven to connect to others for the fulfillment of desires, when that stretching to a new capacity feels challenging and we feel exposed we are invited to choose the path of deep feeling and opening. To stretch our capacity to love unconditionally and to embrace and accept others as they are without needing something from them or expecting them to be a certain way. And then from there, accepting their nature and how they show up, we interact with them accordingly.

In order for us to unconditionally love others, we must also unconditionally love and accept our own Self. To evolve, we want to strengthen our connection to the source of Love and Strength that dwells within our True Self. The more we are able to access the Well of Love within our own Self, the more easily we are able to unconditionally love those around us without feeling drained. We can receive support from others, but we also want to strengthen our inner connection so we will not need to reply upon others as we evolve.

These are the energies and themes that are being opened into our Collective Heart through the beginning of this New Moon Cycle. And in the early hours of August 17th, the Sun will shift into Leo carrying this cycle of evolving Love and Desire into the Creative Heart where we discover the passion for sharing our heart’s desires with the world. We do this through creative pursuits, through romantic connections and through passionately expressing our Soul’s deepest desires. The more clearly we are connected to the Truth of what and how we love as learned through the Cancer energy, the more effectively and clearly we can express and convey these creative energies into the world as a first step to connect to others and to share what’s in our heart with the world.

At this time, Jupiter (see also Jupiter Enters Leo – Acting Upon Inspired Principles), Mercury and Sun with be hemmed between Mars and Rahu, bring some frustration and confusion to this exploration and the best ways to share and communicate our passions and principles through this creative expression. This placement will also continue to bring those feelings into the reflection upon and inner exploration of Relationships.

I invite you to tune into these themes of love, relationship, desire over this next moon cycle of 27 days. How is it showing up in your own life, your relationships, at work? What might you be observing in those around you? Be willing to questions your own deeper motivations when it comes to love and connecting to others. Notice when you may be protecting your heart or clinging to others, and instead try to choose the Tantric practice of allowing yourself to just feel what you are feeling.

Also observe the process of creativity and how you feel about acting from inspired Principles, being mindful that you may feel a little less motivated or even some confusion in this part of your life in the short term.

Let me know your thoughts and share how these energies may be impacting your life below in the comments section. 🙂

The above is a general Vedic Astrology Forecast. It discusses the shifts that are happening at the level of the Collective experience, as well as how you can use that Collective energy for your own growth and evolution.

For a detailed reading of how the Planetary cycles will impact you personally, you should schedule a private Vedic Astrology Reading.